Art Guide · Art movements
Natural history illustration
19th – early 20th century
Natural history illustration is the tradition of documenting plants, animals and sea life with scientific accuracy. Audubon’s birds and Haeckel’s sea creatures are the best-known examples of work made for science and loved as art.
Shop Natural history illustration posters Poster prints of these works are in the collection.
Last updated: · Iconica Society editors
Between science and art
Before photography, careful drawings were the only way to present newly discovered species. Engraving and lithography made it possible to print them as large, hand-coloured plates. John James Audubon’s The Birds of America (1827–38) and Ernst Haeckel’s Art Forms in Nature (1899–1904) are high points of the tradition, and their symmetrical, decorative arrangements remain much loved in interiors today.
